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Lot Essay
published:
Arai Tsutomu, Hokusai no kakushi-e: Bannen no nikuhitsuga e no shunen o toku (Hokusai's hidden paintings: Toward an understanding of the passion of the paintings of his last years) (Tokyo: AA Shuppansha, 1989), p. 30.
Hokusai: Nikuhitsuga (Hokusai: Paintings), edited by the Japan Ukiyo-e Society, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shimbunsha, 1972), pl. 24.
Kobayashi Tadashi, Komatsu Taishu, and Asano Shugo, eds., Ukiyo-e, in Edo no kaiga 4 (Edo painting 4), Kogei 2 (Crafts 2), vol. 20 of Nihon bijutsu zenshu (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1991), pl. 69.
Kobayashi Tadashi, ed., Azabu bijutsu kogeikan (Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts), vol. 6 of Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e taikan (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1995), pl. 60.
Matsuki Hiroshi, Hokusai/Hiroshige, vol. 30 of Shinpen meiho Nihon no bijutsu (Tokyo: Shogakukan, 1991), no. 135.
Narazaki Muneshige, "Paintings of Hokusai's Final Years," in Hokusai Paintings: Selected Essays, edited by Gian Carlo Calza, with the assistance of John T. Carpenter (Venice: The International Hokusai Research Centre, University of Venice, 1994), pl. 16--6.
Tokubetsu ten Hokusai: Fukutsu no gajin damashii (Special exhibition of Hokusai: The indomitable painter's spirit), exh. cat. (Nagoya: Nagoya City Museum and Chunichi Shimbunsha, 1991), pl. 217.
Tsuji Nobuo, Katsushika Hokusai, vol. 11 of Nihon no meiga (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1974), pl. 28.
_____, Hokusa, vol. 31 of Book of Books, Nihon no bijutsu (Tokyo: Shogakukan, 1982), no. 108.
_____, Nihon bijutsu no hyojo: "Oko-e" kara Hokusai made (Expressiveness in Japanese art: From comic pictures to Hokusai) (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1986), no. 30.
_____, Nihon bijutsu no mikata (How to look at Japanese art), vol. 7 of wanami Nihon bijutsu no nagare (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1992), no. 102.
The painting is dated to the first lunar month (the month of the Tiger) of the last year of Hokusai's life, just three months before he died at the age of ninety (eighty-nine by Western count). A good number of paintings dated to his final years survive, many of them bearing a statement of his age or otherwise dated, as though he wanted to document his artistic output in defiance of old age. As Narazaki Muneshige wrote of this painting, "While the artist's body was emaciated and bones wearied by age, in his thoughts he was a charging tiger." The seal Hyaku, or "One Hundred," is another sign of Hokusai's preoccupation with longevity.
Certain paintings linked with Hokusai's final period are now attributed to Hokusai's close pupils, or otherwise raise questions of authenticity. Most experts concur, however, that Tiger in a Snowstorm can be securely placed in the corpus of accepted paintings.
Arai Tsutomu, Hokusai no kakushi-e: Bannen no nikuhitsuga e no shunen o toku (Hokusai's hidden paintings: Toward an understanding of the passion of the paintings of his last years) (Tokyo: AA Shuppansha, 1989), p. 30.
Hokusai: Nikuhitsuga (Hokusai: Paintings), edited by the Japan Ukiyo-e Society, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shimbunsha, 1972), pl. 24.
Kobayashi Tadashi, Komatsu Taishu, and Asano Shugo, eds., Ukiyo-e, in Edo no kaiga 4 (Edo painting 4), Kogei 2 (Crafts 2), vol. 20 of Nihon bijutsu zenshu (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1991), pl. 69.
Kobayashi Tadashi, ed., Azabu bijutsu kogeikan (Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts), vol. 6 of Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e taikan (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1995), pl. 60.
Matsuki Hiroshi, Hokusai/Hiroshige, vol. 30 of Shinpen meiho Nihon no bijutsu (Tokyo: Shogakukan, 1991), no. 135.
Narazaki Muneshige, "Paintings of Hokusai's Final Years," in Hokusai Paintings: Selected Essays, edited by Gian Carlo Calza, with the assistance of John T. Carpenter (Venice: The International Hokusai Research Centre, University of Venice, 1994), pl. 16--6.
Tokubetsu ten Hokusai: Fukutsu no gajin damashii (Special exhibition of Hokusai: The indomitable painter's spirit), exh. cat. (Nagoya: Nagoya City Museum and Chunichi Shimbunsha, 1991), pl. 217.
Tsuji Nobuo, Katsushika Hokusai, vol. 11 of Nihon no meiga (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1974), pl. 28.
_____, Hokusa, vol. 31 of Book of Books, Nihon no bijutsu (Tokyo: Shogakukan, 1982), no. 108.
_____, Nihon bijutsu no hyojo: "Oko-e" kara Hokusai made (Expressiveness in Japanese art: From comic pictures to Hokusai) (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1986), no. 30.
_____, Nihon bijutsu no mikata (How to look at Japanese art), vol. 7 of wanami Nihon bijutsu no nagare (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1992), no. 102.
The painting is dated to the first lunar month (the month of the Tiger) of the last year of Hokusai's life, just three months before he died at the age of ninety (eighty-nine by Western count). A good number of paintings dated to his final years survive, many of them bearing a statement of his age or otherwise dated, as though he wanted to document his artistic output in defiance of old age. As Narazaki Muneshige wrote of this painting, "While the artist's body was emaciated and bones wearied by age, in his thoughts he was a charging tiger." The seal Hyaku, or "One Hundred," is another sign of Hokusai's preoccupation with longevity.
Certain paintings linked with Hokusai's final period are now attributed to Hokusai's close pupils, or otherwise raise questions of authenticity. Most experts concur, however, that Tiger in a Snowstorm can be securely placed in the corpus of accepted paintings.